Bearer of the Torch
by Muse's Inspiration
Summary: Blair never had a choice, she suspected. This is what she was always meant to do.


**Title:: **The Bearer of the Torch (for Keenir)  
**Author:: **Muse  
**Character/Pairing:: **John/Kate, Blair Williams  
**Rating:: **PG-13 (some mild language)  
**Warnings::** A few spoilers for Terminator Salvation, that's about it.  
**Summary:: **Blair never had a choice, she suspected. This is what she was always meant to do.  
**Disclaimer::** Terminator and all references to it belong to James Cameron and McG. This is for entertainment purposes only and no profit is being made.  
**Author Notes:: **a wonderfully grateful THANK YOU to my beta, Charlotte! You so freakin' ROCK, woman!  
**Author Notes 2:: **This is written for the Terminatorfic Fic Exchange. I was given the prompt(s) of: _John/Kate and 'Blair takes over where John Connor left off'_. I'm not sure if this is what she had in mind, but this is what came out of the prompt. I hope you like it and I'm sorry that it ran late!

* * *

"Can she handle it? Is she capable?" Kate heard the weakly groggy voice asking from the shadows. Suppressing a deep sigh, she turned her head and gazed at the man lying in the bed. His face and chest wrapped in bandages, cuts, scratches and bruises decorating every bare surface of his body and skin pale from blood loss did not distract from the fact that this was John Connor; he still looked every inch the born leader of mankind that he was.

Quickly, her gaze switched from that of a medical doctor examining a patient to that of a wife gravely concerned about her husband; John did not look good. They had been forced to come up with an alternative solution for the heart transplant due to Marcus' heart being totally incompatible. His heart had been designed to run a body that was no longer entirely human and was just too strong, too large and not a tissue match. Luckily, another member of the Resistance who had died in the raid was a match and they had been able to harvest her heart. The surgery had gone well, but now Kate was on a 24 hour watch for infection. The most dangerous part of the process had started.

As she gazed at him through the eyes of a wife, Kate could see the tightness around his mouth, the rigidness of his shoulders. These were the only outward signs of the pain and discomfort she knew he was in. John was always, first and foremost, a leader. He always led by example and as such, had developed an extremely devoted army of soldiers who would follow his orders to the letter. He would never show weakness; he would always be strong for those he cared about the most.

"John…" she began, "it will be fine. You need to allow your men to handle things." She felt the baby give a quick nudge and she reached a hand up and absently rubbed where the little kick had been felt. "You've trained them all well. Blair can do this." Feeling a slight twinge in her hip, she reached around and pressed a hand against her back, arching slightly to take some of the pressure off of the nerve that ran through her hip and into her leg. She had been on her feet too long and was now paying the price for it.

John watched her adjusting herself to get more comfortable and almost felt guilty for the wave of satisfaction that swept over him at the sight of her, large with his child and beautifully flushed. Whenever he would feel a moment of doubt about his role within his fate he would look at this woman, who had, for whatever reason fallen in love with him, and he knew that all of the sacrifices he had made for the future would be worth it.

He motioned weakly at her to come over to his side, wanting her near him. When she reached him, he held out a trembling hand and laid it unsteadily upon her stomach, smiling weakly when he felt the baby's strong kick in acknowledgement. He looked up and met Kate's soft gaze as her hand came up and rested on top of his, sharing the moment of the peacefulness with the little life they had made.

Sighing, he turned his hand over and captured Kate's fingers with his own, squeezing gently before letting his hand drop back onto the bed and closing his eyes. Kate could see even that small amount of exertion had taken its toll on him and he was now completely exhausted. It did not, however, deter his thought process at all. Grimacing in pain, John opened his eyes again and said, "This is important, Kate. It's not something I can leave to chance."

Laying his head back on the pillow, he raised a shaking hand up and rubbed his forehead where he could feel the headache settling in. Rolling his head, his gaze locked onto the table where the tapes and recorder from his mother sat. "Can she do it, Kate? Can she keep him safe?" Dropping his hand back onto his chest, he coughed slightly from the exertion and then looked at Kate with hopelessness. "I can't do it. I need to know, Kate. Can Blair do it?"

Kate could see the agitation straining his features. "John, you got him this far..." she trailed off, searching for the words to comfort him. "Blair can take over. She can train him, teach him. She'll keep Kyle safe." She walked over to the table and ran her fingers over the tapes that John religiously listened to as if they held all of the secrets of the universe… and maybe they did. Turning, she looked back at the man on the bed and wanted to cry she was so frustrated with him. "At some point, you will need to realize that you're not the only one with a vested interest in all of this." She clenched her fist as she tried to find the words to get through to him. "Please, I need you to rest. You need time to heal, to recover from everything… You've just had a transplant, John! People do not just get up and walk around within a few hours from that! You're worrying yourself to the point of exhaustion and you can't fight off infection if your body isn't getting enough rest."

She blinked through the tears starting to well up in her eyes and saw John's impassive face looking back her. Softly clearing her throat and sniffing slightly, she tried once more. "Please. Please let them do it." Her voice cracked and she swallowed hard. "John…" she pleaded, "I can't do this alone. I can't raise this child alone. Please rest and allow yourself to heal."

Feeling extremely frustrated at the situation he found himself in, he knew she was right. He knew that if he wasn't careful, infection would set in and then he wouldn't stand a chance. And he also knew that if he didn't heed her warnings, he would never see their child born; never have an opportunity to be in their lives. He knew what it was like, never having his father around. Breathing deeply, he found himself coming to a decision that was surprisingly easy when it was all said and done. He looked up into her tear filled eyes.

"OK, Kate." He smiled, or grimaced since it was all he could really manage. "You're right."

Kate smiled tremousosly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, baby. Tell Blair she's taking over. It's all on her now."


End file.
